Brotherhood
by cjkyuubi
Summary: A brotherhood forged in the fires of their will will do anything to keep it burning. To preserve the Will Of Fire. That is their code, that is their life, It is the very fire that drives them. complete AU


A/N: As I'm sure you'll notice as you read, just thought I'd put it out there that this story is completely different from canon Naruto-verse.

A/N2: although I do like the Japanese version of techniques, it does get annoying when a reader doesn't actually know what justu is being used mid scene and either has to go to google and translate or hope for an a/n at the end saying what the name was. So I have decided for the most part to use the English version of the techniques. Titles will remain in Japanese (hokage, Kyuubi etc), as well as the honorifics, as I personally believes it allows people to more into the relationship between the characters. Other than that I will try to steer away from using Japanese in the story wherever I can.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: The Naruto manga/anime does not belong to me in anyway. This story however does.

X-X-X-X

If Namikaze Naruto had to say one thing about his short life so far, he would undoubtedly have to say he has lived an…_ interesting_ life so far. At the tender age of seven, he had been privy to many a things that most children wouldn't know about, or even come close to thinking about.

However, being the youngest of the Hokage's children did have its perks. Although youngest wasn't exactly the most accurate term to describe it. Although yes he was born last among his siblings, they were the medical extreme rarity in the fact that they were naturally conceived and born quadruplets, with him being the last to be born. So _technically _he was the youngest, but anyway…

He had learned at an even younger age that he was very different from his siblings. His brother Ryu was supposed to be this child of prophecy or something according to the old toad pervert. His sisters Ayane and Asuna were the jailors of the great Kyuubi no Kitsune after their father had been able to seal it away into them when it broke free during the childbirth. And he was… Naruto. That was about it. Nothing super special about him besides his familial relationship.

But that never discouraged him or his family. He loved them more than life itself, and he had vowed to become a shinobi to protect them, and they were more than happy to let him. His parents had enrolled them all into the academy already, and they would be starting the next term. And despite their 'specialness' his sibling never treated him any different, and neither did his parents. They were a family.

Bringing us back to the original statement. Naruto had been able to convince his father to let him tag along when he was being given mission reports (nothing classified of course, he was still only a child) and going to visit some of his shinobi when they were hospitalized. While his father had tried his best to shoo him away, over a year of pestering him broke him down into agreeing, if only to get his son to stop nagging him. So in Naruto's free time, he spent all day in the Hokage's office and mission desk with his father instead of playing like most kids his age.

From this, Naruto gleamed something his sibling never would, nor would any of the children of the village.

The true life of a shinobi. One where they put their life on the line, not save princesses and become knights in shining armor saving the weak from bullies. No, he was shown that they killed without remorse, they did deeds that were awful and lacking all sense of moral because they were getting paid to do it. He saw the wounded shinobi in the hospital, some missing limbs, having to be told by his father they were to be discharged from active service. Some losing their minds because of what they had done on their missions, others filing paper work for their now deceased teammates.

At first it had horrified Naruto to the core. Everything they were being told in the academy, was a lie. All of it. And none of the adults did anything to correct it. Then he had asked his father on one particularly bad day, after they had been given a report of an entire team being slaughtered on their mission when they ran into a missing-nin, where after his father had sent someone to inform the families. He had asked one simple question.

"why?" Naruto asked quietly as he sat in his father's office.

Minato looked up from his never ending pile of paperwork and looked at his son. This was one of if not the main reason he didn't want to bring him here, especially not so often. He didn't want his son seeing the reality of shinobi life until he was much, much older. His eyes softened when he saw the distraught look on the seven year olds face. No child should have such an expression.

"Because we have to." He said calmly.

"but WHY! Why do we have to?" Naruto's voice escalated a bit as he looked at his father.

Minato looked at his son for a few moments, seeing the pleading look in his son's eyes; he gave him the only answer he could.

"To preserve the will of fire. We do what needs to be done so everyone else doesn't have to. We get our hands dirty so the people can keep theirs clean, so they can sleep at night with no worries, no reason to fear anything in the world. We do what we do to keep this village burning bright with the will of fire." The older man said with conviction.

The young boy's eyes widened his mouth agape ever so slightly. He stayed like that, sitting there quietly as his father resumed his work. Minutes passed in silence before the boy spoke.

"I see," Minato looked up at his son, seeing his fists clenched tightly as his sides, "then I will to. I'll preserve the will fire, I will make sure the fire never dies! That's my nindo, my ninja way! Believe it!" he spoke loudly, his clenched fist in front of his face, as he made his vow.

His father smiled softly at him before resuming his work. The rest of the day passing in silence.

X-X-X-X

Ever since that day in his father's office, Naruto drove himself into training. He did everything he could, which was mostly just reading and physical exercises, but he didn't care. Anything to help him get stronger was something he gladly accepted. He read everything he could get his hands on. While none of it really relating to shinobi life too much besides basic history of the different countries and the various hidden villages, it was still something. Knowledge was power, power was power, he needed both, and basic books on history and basic strategy books on some games like shogi or checker were great starts in his mind.

Although most of the strategies in those books didn't make much sense to him, he figured the more he read them, and eventually tried to use them in actual games, the more he'd understand. Until then however...

That is where we find young Naruto, a few weeks away from being enrolled to the academy, sitting in some of Konoha's many woods, taking a break from his 'strenuous' workout, (Just some running and pushups) reading one of the many books he was able to check out of the library in town.

As he lay there relaxing, trying to memorize what he was reading (too many words everywhere in his opinion. Pictures were so much better!) he heard some of the nearby bushes shake and some leaves crunching, he sat up, looking towards the bush, not knowing what to expect.

What he saw amused him greatly as a boy his age shot from the bush, looking like he was trying to do some sort of acrobatic move, trip over himself and slam face first into a nearby tree. Which made him promptly start cradling his face yelling "My face! My awesome face!" over and over.

After a few seconds Naruto couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing, rolling back and clutching his sides as he laughed at the poor boy in front of him.

Said laughing caused said boy with the hurt face to turn to him, jump up in anger and shout at him.

"Hey fool! It's not funny! My awesome face is hurt! You shouldn't laugh!" the boy yelled, well tried to, as it came out all muffled as he was still clutching his very much hurt face.

Naruto continued to laugh at the boy, causing him to get even angrier.

"Stop it now! How dare you laugh at my awesome face! I'll show you fool! Stand up and face the awesomely awesome and most awesome Konohamaru!" said boy was now no longer holding onto his face, but pointing a finger at Naruto, who started to calm down a bit.

As Naruto calmed down, he sat up and finally got a look at the boy. He stood about his own height, with brown hair and an unreasonably long scarf around his neck.

Naruto looked at him quizzically before responding.

"Well, if you're so awesome, how come you hit your face on a tree!" he grinned widely at the boy.

Said boy sputtered for a moment, losing his cool before pointing an accusatory finger at the blonde.

"You tripped me! It's all your fault! I'll show you to mess with me fool!" he shouted.

Naruto laughed at him for a second before responding.

"You tripped over your own two feet doofus!" he quipped back.

"Doofus!? Who you callin' doofus! I'm awesome! You're a, a, your stupid!" he yelled back.

"I'm not the one who tried to break a tree with my face!" Naruto was becoming annoyed with the boy.

"Would you two stop being so loud, it's hard to train when I can hear you guys everywhere." A new and calm voice interjected as a boy their age with dark hair stepped into the small area.

Both boys immediately turned to face him and shouted

"Who you fool! I'm the awesome Konohamaru!"

"He's the idiot being loud!"

"What did you say fool!

The dark haired looked at the two of them and sighed as he shook his head. He stood there in silence as the two boys stared shouting insults at each, back and forth for a couple of minutes before the boy's eye suddenly developed a twitch. Another minute later and the two in front of him were still at it. He'd had enough.

"STOP! You two are stupid and annoying!" he shouted at them, finally losing his patience.

Both boys stopped and turned to him. The dark haired boy suddenly regretted yelling at them.

'_I've just fell to their level… great'_

"Who you calling stupid fool!" the boy, Konohamaru yelled.

"Yeah, it's not nice to insult Kono here when you've only just met him. To call him stupid and annoying is just going too far man." Naruto said in a mockingly polite voice.

"Yeah fool! ... Wait…" Konohamaru said at first, before realizing what the blonde said. "Hey!"

Naruto just grinned and the dark haired boy even smiled at him. Konohamaru glared at the two of them before huffing and sitting down, arms crossed face turned the other way. Said actions caused the other two the grin and chuckle at him.

Naruto looked at the dark haired boy, seeing the dark blue shirt and dark hair…

"Uchiha right?" he asked, slightly surprised the boy would be interacting with them. From what he saw of the Uchiha, bunch of assholes who thought they were better than most other people.

Said boy simply smiled and nodded his head.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke, nice to meet you." He said smiling as he extended his hand.

Naruto grinned back and shook his hand.

"Namikaze Naruto, nice to meet ya!"

"Hey! Don't forget me! I'm the awesome Sarutobi Konohamaru fools!" the brown haird boy jumped up and exclaimed, fist out.

The other two turned towards him, smirking, and bumped fists with him. Konohamaru grinned right back.

This looked like the start of an awesome friendship for the boys as they stood there, grinning at each other.

… Before Konohamaru suddenly tried to walk, failing in doing so by tripping on his scarf, causing him to fall flat on his face.

"AH! My face! My awesome face! Not again!" he writhed dramatically on the ground, causing the other two boys to laugh madly at their new friend.

Life seemed good.

X-X-X-X

The weeks before the academy started flew by for the trio of boys. They seemed to become best friends in the short amount of time. Naruto had since stopped going with his father during his free time (when he wasn't training) and instead chose to hang out with Sasuke and Konohamaru. Sasuke had spent less and less time hanging around his brother than before, causing said boy to be relieved ever so slightly. And Konohamaru… well he stopped trying to 'assassinate' his grandfather at home and now focused on getting his new friends to finally admit that he was awesome.

"You fools excited or what?" asked a very animated Konohamaru, practically bouncing on his feet as the three finally took a break from their exercises.

Naruto didn't look up from one of the many books he was always reading during their down time, seemingly engrossed in what he was reading. Or he was just ignoring Kono to piss him off.

Sasuke sat up from his position on the ground and looked over at the blonde, seeing his lack of a reaction. Then he turned towards Konohamaru, seeing his friend looking expectantly at him as he was still practically bouncing around. He then promptly shrugged his shoulders and laid back down, causing Konohamaru's eye to twitch at his so called friends.

"I see how it is. Fine, be that way. But when I'm the awesomest Shinobi ever I'll find you two and kick you both in the face! Ha!" The brown haired boy exclaimed, pointing at the two boys in front of him.

Naruto looked up from his book for a moment as he spoke, "I'll take my chances," and promptly resumed reading.

Sasuke didn't even deign a response, simply shifting so he was on his side, back to Konohamaru.

Said boy looked appalled at his friends.

"You guys suck, ya know that," He said rather dejectedly.

"We know," the two boys said in unison, causing Konohamaru to grin, ready to use it against them when they spoke again before he had the chance, "but you suck more." Kono's grin fell from his face, and he curled up in a ball, dark clouds over his head, drawing circles in the dirt, muttering something about mean no good friends.

The other two boys simply grinned and resumed what they were doing.

They stayed like that for almost half an hour before Naruto closed his book and stuffed it into the bag he always brought with him, standing up and stretching, causing the other two to look up from their spots on the ground.

"I think that's enough of a break don't you? Let's get back to training!" he said with some excitement in his voice.

Konohamaru just grinned madly and hopped to his face as Sasuke slowly stood up, stretching as he did so.

The three of them looked at each other, each with a smirk on their face, staring the others down. Then, a single leaf fell to the ground in between the three boys; as if a signal to begin, they rushed each other, keen on beating the crap out of the others. The winner would have bragging rights until the next time, and that was something none of three wanted to pass up.

X-X-X-X

Uchiha Itachi was a young man who many hailed as a genius seen once every generation. Getting an early admittance into the academy, graduating spectacularly early by any standard, and rising through the ranks and landing a spot in ANBU at the young age of 13, he became a young man that was always looking 'underneath the underneath' and analyzing everything that he saw, so he could predict what would follow so as not to be shocked at the outcome and could react accordingly. He spent most of his career working on those standing principles and would swear eight days to Sunday that that was how he became a 'genius'. That he merely did what any good shinobi should do in their chosen profession.

With everything that he had lived through so far, Uchiha Itachi was not a man who would to be surprised by anything, not even his comrades saw him react on missions no matter what went down.

So when Itachi went looking for his brother to say goodbye before his next mission, knowing he was going to miss the academy entrance ceremony, he found himself dumbfounded. when he found his little brother slightly beat up, but otherwise okay, standing above what seemed to be the Hokage's son and the former Hokage's grandson with a smirk on his face going on about 'eternal bragging rights', he wasn't sure he was more shocked with the situation at hand, or the fact that he was indeed dumbfounded and had no idea how to react.

'_food for thought I suppose.'_ He thought to himself, overall amused with himself. He then shrugged his shoulders and hopped down from his perch on the tree to say his goodbye.

Unfortunately for Itachi he had decided to drop down in between his brother and his new friends. Now usually this wouldn't be an issue, as they were merely children and he was in anbu, but because of that, he sorely underestimated their reactions.

While Sasuke looked startled, he quickly realized who it was and started to smile.

Naruto was unconcerned in the least, having been around anbu enough in his life had stopped being spooked by their ability to appear as if from nowhere…. Almost, if his slight jump was anything to go by.

Konohamaru however…

"WHEN FOOLS ATTACK!" he shouted, and immediately swung his foot at Itachi.

Itachi turned around slightly at the yell, only to receive a foot to his most precious package.

Itachi, the feared anbu hailed as a genius across the lands… was felled by a seven year old boy… who simply kicked him square in the nuts.

"Itachi!" Sasuke yelled in alarm as he saw his brother go down.

Itachi merely did what any man did when assaulted in such a way… he assumed the 'my balls are in severe pain' stance and fell to ground, maintaining said stance even while on the ground.

Naruto's eyes widened at the event that just took place before him, making him at a loss for words.

Konohamaru however…

"HAHAHA! Fool! That'll teach ya to mess wit the awesome Konohamaru! Oh yeah!" Said boy had the biggest shit-eating grin marred upon his face, arms in a superman pose.

A few moments passed like that, Itachi on the ground trying to recover, Naruto fumbling for any coherent thought, Sasuke staring at his brother in no small amount of shock, and Konohamaru, still standing in his superman pose.

However, Itachi recovered, at least enough to seek vengeance against the boy who would seek to main him. He grabbed said boy by the ankles, and before Kono knew what had happened, he was suddenly upside down, hanging from the tallest tree branch, by some wire tied around his ankles.

"AHH! Let me down fool! I'm the-" he never was able to finish his statement as he made eye contact with the man he had assaulted.

Itachi glared into the boy's eyes and spoke ever so softly, but the fiery vengeance of the man burned with every word.

"You will hang here until you can find a way down yourself. If anyone helps you, I WILL know, and if anyone does…" here Itachi leaned in close to the boy, "I will make sure you understand the… _**pain**__, _in which you caused me. Am I clear?"

Konohamaru nodded his head vigorously.

"I feel super clear. Like totally clear. More clear than ever! Really!"

Itachi then smiled at the boy as if he were a little puppy and patted him on the head and said, "Good boy" before jumping down.

"Anyway, I'm leaving on a mission Sasuke, so I won't be there tomorrow. Sorry, but good luck and have fun okay?" Itachi said quietly to his brother, a small smile on his face.

Sasuke frowned slightly, but smiled back his brother before nodding.

"Good luck brother! Come home safe, kay?"

"I always do little brother. Take care." And with that Itachi was gone.

Naruto, seemingly still at a loss for words, simply looked up at Konohamaru. Then back at the direction Itachi had vanished to, and then back at Kono, before nodding his head, standing up, and walking away.

Sasuke watched him with some confusion, before he simply shrugged his shoulders and walked towards the compound. He did need his rest for the next day after all.

Konohamaru hung from the tree, desperately trying to undo the knots, before realizing his friends had simply left him there. His eye twitched and swore vengeance for this day.

"I, Sarutobi Konohamaru, swear vengeance upon you fools! For I will- AH! AH! Get off!" his seemingly epic speech was promptly cut off as a squirrel decided to climb down the rope onto the boy, before nipping all across his legs and ankles.

When fools attack indeed…

X-X-X-X

And done!

First chap, let me know how you like it! Please leave a review! Constructive criticism is very appreciated!

A/N to anyone who might have read the original first chapt, I simply combined it with a second part that I had written that I felt went more with this one than another. I hope to be able to actually update this soon!

Cjkyuubi~


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